This has appeared in British Blades, but I thought that some here might get ideas...
Writing bits of my book, and selling gear, and buying more gear, and now moving house, has kept me busy.
I was a bit distracted over the weekend, due to some personal issues, and I went down to the beach with a few bits of metal.
Thinking of Lost etc type TV shows, has got me thinking about what survivors would REALLY do in an desert island type scenario. "Castaway" with Tom Hanks etc....Or even inland semi-arid etc desert type scenarios for that matter, such as Flight of the Pheonix.
If you had access to a hacksaw and a few good blades, and a screwdriver of sorts, such as a SAK or Leatherman type tool, you could remove aircraft bits to make tools and knives, which is really what this thread is about and of course, using our imagination.
I have half a Pratt and Whitney JT8D jet engine, plus turbine blades in my care.
I hacksawed a few damaged 6Al4V titanium blades that I had removed from the turbine, and made a few tools and knives
Using my grinder, I then rough ground edges etc on these knives...some were better edges, and could shave arm hair.
The rest were levers, and light hammers.
And then I took a handful down to the beach for some quiet time to work with seaweed, driftwood, washed up nylon and polyprop type netting, as well as Coke cans, flotsam and jetsam, etc.
I was there for 3 hours, and kept busy cutting etc
I am convinced that it is possible to make tools etc from a downed plane, given the time, and basic tools. The titanium is hard to grind, and galls easily, but its wear resistance meant that I could slice up gritty seaweed, whittle wood and even shape figure4 traps, make snares from the rope fragments, and the edge was still remarkably good. Building shelters? Quite feasible
I found a few abrasive rocks and stones, and they would keep a good edge on the titanium, if I was there for a length of time.
No pics, sadly, but the next time I do the beach scenario thing, I will take my camera.
Some might say I am being un-realistic, what with having no power tools in a survival situation, but the point is.......... that we can improvise if we think outside the civilisation square...
Writing bits of my book, and selling gear, and buying more gear, and now moving house, has kept me busy.
I was a bit distracted over the weekend, due to some personal issues, and I went down to the beach with a few bits of metal.
Thinking of Lost etc type TV shows, has got me thinking about what survivors would REALLY do in an desert island type scenario. "Castaway" with Tom Hanks etc....Or even inland semi-arid etc desert type scenarios for that matter, such as Flight of the Pheonix.
If you had access to a hacksaw and a few good blades, and a screwdriver of sorts, such as a SAK or Leatherman type tool, you could remove aircraft bits to make tools and knives, which is really what this thread is about and of course, using our imagination.
I have half a Pratt and Whitney JT8D jet engine, plus turbine blades in my care.
I hacksawed a few damaged 6Al4V titanium blades that I had removed from the turbine, and made a few tools and knives
Using my grinder, I then rough ground edges etc on these knives...some were better edges, and could shave arm hair.
The rest were levers, and light hammers.
And then I took a handful down to the beach for some quiet time to work with seaweed, driftwood, washed up nylon and polyprop type netting, as well as Coke cans, flotsam and jetsam, etc.
I was there for 3 hours, and kept busy cutting etc
I am convinced that it is possible to make tools etc from a downed plane, given the time, and basic tools. The titanium is hard to grind, and galls easily, but its wear resistance meant that I could slice up gritty seaweed, whittle wood and even shape figure4 traps, make snares from the rope fragments, and the edge was still remarkably good. Building shelters? Quite feasible
I found a few abrasive rocks and stones, and they would keep a good edge on the titanium, if I was there for a length of time.
No pics, sadly, but the next time I do the beach scenario thing, I will take my camera.
Some might say I am being un-realistic, what with having no power tools in a survival situation, but the point is.......... that we can improvise if we think outside the civilisation square...
